Manufacture of printing plates



Nov.26, 1940. M.SORK|N MANUFACTURE OF PRINTING PLA TE5 Filed Nov. 2, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 55 55 Ii L INVENTOR I W 4 (0..

-mfim Nov. 26, 1940. M. SORKIN MANUFACTURE OF BBINTING PLATES Filed Nov. 2, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Biz ' ZTI ZQQNEY v m a w M. SORKIN MANUFACTURE OF PRINTING PLATES Nov. 26, 1940.

Filed Nov. '2. 1957 s Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR Patented Nov. 26, 1940 uNiTE'DY-iS E- PAT ENTQOFFIC ?"4f MANUFACTURE OF PRINTING imam-Es 1 ntaisisornn. Tatar, mil; mat

chemical Corporation, New York, N. Y., a cor-j poration of Ohio Application November 2, 1937, Serial No. 172,355 I a 6 Claims.

This invention relates to contrast images for making printing plates, and to methods of making such contrast images. The present application relates to such methods, while the contrast 6 images form the subject-matter of my divisional application Serial No. 359,644, filed October 4, 1940.

The invention aims to provide a printing plate from which one may make prints containing 10 printed and unprinted areas so proportioned and arranged as to give to the eye the effect of the variations in tone of an original subject or a continuous-tone photographic image thereof. Such a print I shall term a contrast image of the original to indicate that it contains only two contrasting tones, variations in the areas of which are utilized to simulate continuous variation in tone.

In order that a contrast image may give to Q the eye the effect of the tone variations of a continuous-tone image, the black and the white areas are so arranged and proportioned that the ratio of black area to white area corresponds to the tone of the original in each part of the contrast image. The area of the contrast image thus consists of a large number of small elemental areas, each of which includes a black area and a white area so proportioned that the ratio of the size of the black area to the size of the whole elemental area corresponds (more or less closely according to the method used) to the tonal value of the area of the continuoustone original corresponding to this elemental area of the contrast image. In order to save repetition and to simplify the terminology used in this application, I shall refer to such an elemental area in which the ratio of black area to the total area corresponds to the value of the tone of the corresponding area of the contino nous-tone original as an element of the area of the contrast image.

My invention relates to the type of contrast image which differs from the ordinary half-tone image in that the elements of the image corresponding to difierent tones are of different sizes. In such contrast images, which are ordinarily prepared by photo-electric scanning, the larger elements, for example, those representing the lighter tones, are usually much greater in length so than in width. It has been found that objectionable patterns occur in certain more or less constant tone areas of such images where the elements are long. These are usually lines extending transversely to the long dimension of I the elemental areas.

I have discovered'that it possible to eliminate such objectionable lines by making, be-

tween adjacent rows of elements, a slight change in the length of the element representing each tone. My invention based on this discovery pro- 5 vides' a contrast image free from objectionable pattern effects and consistingof rows of elements of difierent lengths representing difierent tones, the lengths, of the elements representing each tone being different in adjacent rows. 10

My invention includes also a photo-electric scanning apparatus for producing such a contrast image. In the scanning apparatus heretofore used for making contrast images having elements of different lengths, it has been custom- 16 ary to control the length of either the .black or the white part of each element, or both the black and the white parts, by the time required for the charging or discharging of an electric condenser by a current controlled bya photo- 20 electric cell scanning the original to be reproduced. In accordance with my invention, such apparatus is modified by introducing mechanism operative at each scanning line to vary the time. cycle of the charging and discharging, as, for 26 example, by making a change in the capacity of the condenser.

I will explain my invention in detail in connection with the annexed drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a greatly enlarged view of part of the 30 contrast image embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar view of a somewhat more desirable form of contrast image embodying my invention;

Fig. 3 is a imilar view showing the objection- 35 able pattern effect which has occurred in previous contrast images;

Fig. 4 is a diagram of a photo-electric scanning apparatus of the drum type embodying my invention; r

Fig. 5 is a vertical section on an enlarged scale taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Figs. 6 and 7 are diagrams showing a photoelectric scanning apparatus of the table type embodying my invention, omitting the parts of 45 the electric circuit-which are the same as in the drum type scanning apparatus of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 8 is an edge viewof the ratchet and disc shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

Fig. 1 shows ,a light, constant-tone area of a contrast image embodying my invention. This area consists f a series of rows of long narrow elements, each of which contains a large white 1 area and a small black area. The ratio of the black area of each element to the total area of rows A is greater than the length of the elements in the other alternate rows B, so that definite objectionable lines cannot be producedas in the former type of contrast image illustrated in Fig. 3. Both the long white areas and the short black areas are proportionately reduced in length in the alternate rows, so that, notwithstanding the difference in the length of the elements in the alternate rows, the black and white areas of each element correctly represent an area of the original which is of uniform tone.

Fig. 2 shows a light, constant-tone area of a contrast image embodying myinvention in a still more desirable form. In this case, the elements representing the tone are of three different lengths. Those in the rows A are the longest, those in the rows C the shortest, and those in the rows B intermediate between the two. This still more efiectively eliminates pattern effects.

A scanning apparatus for making the type of contrast image shown in Fig. 1 is illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. It includes an ordinary electromechanical scanning apparatus having mechanism for moving an original and a copy in a series of corresponding scanning lines. This mechanism comprises a transparent picture drum I0 and a recording drum II, which are given identical rotational and longitudinal movements through a driving mechanism I2. A constant intensity lamp I3 regulated by resistance 41 and provided with a suitable lens system It is mounted to scan a continuous-tone transparent original or a continuous-tone transparent photograph of an original mounted on the drum III. The light from the scanning lamp I3, as modified by passing through the transparent original, is received by a photo-electric cell I5.

A recording lamp I6 illuminating a shield I'I containing a long narrow slit or aperture I8 is provided with a lens system I9 which focuses an image of the slit I8 on a recording film placed on the drum II. In the form illustrated, the shield II containing the slit I8 is the anode of the lamp, but this is not essential as the shield containing the slit may be separate from the lamp. The lamp is a gas-discharge lamp having no afterglow. The length of the image of the slit I8 is equal to the distance between the turns of the screw 20 of the driving mechanism, so that, as the mechanism operates, the image of the slit scans the entire area of the recording film without any overlap. The length of the image of the slit I8 on the recording film determines the width of the elemental areas of the contrast image produced on the recording film. The lengths of the elemental areas are determined by the time length of the cycle of the recording lamp I8; and the proportion of black and white which each elemental area contains is determined by the time during which the recording lamp I8 is lighted and the time period during which it is extinguished during one cycle. These time periods are controlled by the light passing through the original to the photo-electric cell I5 by means of interconnecting electric circuits between the photo-electric cell I5 and the recording lamp l6.

The interconnected-electric circuits include a photo-cell circuit which charges a condenser 35, a constant current circuit which discharges the 15 condenser 35, a trigger circuit actuated by the voltage across the condenser 35, and a control circuit for the recording lamp I8 actuated by the trigger circuit. The circuits are so interconnected that the condenser 35 is alternately charged and discharged in a cycle controlled by the amount of light reaching the photo-cell I8 and controlling the cycle of the recording lamp I6 and thus the length and character of the elemental areas of the contrast image.

The photo-cell circuit contains a source of electromotive force 21, a resistance 42 and the photo-electric cell I5,and is connected to the plate 35a of the condenser so that a positive potential is built up on this plate when the current flows in the photo-cell circuit. The current in this circuit and the rate of charge of the condenser are proportional to the amount of light reaching the photo-cell.

The discharging circuit is connected tothe plate 35a of the condenser and contains a source of electro-motive force 28 opposed to the source of electro-motive force 21 in the photo-cell circuit. The discharging circuit also contains means for maintaining the flow of current constant and means for stopping and starting the flow of current. These means consist of a vacuum tube 2I whose plate circuit constitutes a part of the discharging circuit. The tube 2I contains a grid -2Ia maintained at a constant potential and holding the flow of current in the plate circuit at a constant value greater than the greatest current in the photo-cell circuit. While greater than the current in the photo-cell circuit, the discharging current should be of the same order as that in the photo-cell circuit which requires that the tube 2I be operated at very low voltage. The strength of the discharging current may be regulated by a potentiometer 53 connected to the grid 2Ia and spanning the source of electro-motive force 28. The discharging current is most desirably made equal to the sum of the maximum and minimum values of the charging current, that is, the values of the current in the photocell circuit when the maximum and minimum amounts of light are received on the photo-cell. The tube 2| also contains a control grid 2Ib which permits the plate current to flow when it is neutral with respect to the cathode of the tube and cuts off the flow of current when it is at a certain negative bias with respect to the cathode of the tube. This grid is connected by a variable tap 49 to the resistor 38 of the trigger circuit hereinafter described. When the current is fiowing in the discharging circuit, it reduces the positive charge on the plate 35a, because the current in this circuit is greater than the current in the photo-cell by which it is opposed.

The trigger circuit is actuated by the voltage across the condenser 35in such manner as to cause a drop in potential in the resistor 38 when the condenser voltage has fallen below a predetermined value (which, for convenience, I shall term the low trigger value) and to eliminate the drop in potential in the resistor 38 when the condenser voltage rises above a predetermined value (the high trigger value). The trigger circuit includes a vacuum tube 22 whose grid is connected to the plate 35a of the condenser and whose plate circuit is connected to cause a flow of current through a resistor 31. The resistor 31 is connected through an oscillator and detector (enclosed in dotted lines in Fig. 4) to the resistor 38. The operation of this oscillator and detector (hereinafter described in detail) is such that it causes a flow of uni-directional current throughthe resistor 38 when the flow-of current through the resistor 31 is such as occurs in the plate circult of the tube 22 when its grid falls below the low trigger value, and cuts on this current through the resistor 38 when the potential of the grid of the tube 22 rises above the high trigger value.

The control circuit for the recording lamp I8 is connected to the resistor 38 01' the tl'igEer circuit, and serves to keep the recording lamp I! lighted only when there is a drop in potential in the resistor 38 or only when there is no drop in potential across this resistor, according to the setting of a reversing switch 40. The control circuit includes a source ofelectro-motive force 34, the recording lamp I6, and the plate circuit of a tube 28. Current flows in this circuit only when the grid of the tube 26 is-neutral. When the reversing switch is in the position marked Neg.", this occurs only when there is no drop across the resistor 38, which in turn occurs when the oscillator and detector are in the static condition. With the switch in the same position,

and the oscillator and detector in the dynamic condition, the drop across resistor'38 provides suflicient negative bias to the tube 26 to prevent flow of any plate current therein. Therefore, the recording lamp I8 is lighted when the oscillator and detector are in the static condition, which occurs during that part of the cycle when the discharging tube 2| is passing plate current. It the area being scanned at this moment is highly transparent, the charging current due to the photo-cell will be large. Therefore, as this opposes the discharging of the condenser, this part of the cycle will be long and will produce a long black dot. Similarly, the recording lamp is off when the oscillator and detector are in the dynamic condition, which occurs during that part of the cycle when the condenser 35 is being charged up to the high trigger value by the charging current. If the area being scanned is transparent, this charging of the condenser will take place rapidly and a small white space will be formed. This results, therefore, in making a negative contrast image of a positive subject on the drum [0. When the switch 40 is thrown to the position marked Posf in Fig. 4, the grid circuit of the tube 26 is connected across a resistor 39 in the plate circuit of a tube 25 whose grid is then connected to the low end of the resistor 38. In this case, the current in the plate circuit of the tube 26 and the recording lamp l6 flows only when there is no' current in the plate circuit of the tube 25, that is, when there is a potential drop in the resistor 38. In this case, a positive contrast image is made.

The operation of the interconnected circuits which have been described is cyclic and may conveniently be described by beginning at the end of the discharge of the condenser 35. At this time, there is a potential drop in the resistor 38, as the condenser voltage is below the trigger values; if the reversing switch is in the positive position, the recording lamp is on and no current is flowing in the discharge circuit which includes the plate circuit of the tube 2|. The condenser, therefore, becomes charged by the current flowing through the photo-cell circuit, and the charge continues to increase until it reaches the high trigger value. At this point, the trigger circuit operates to stop the flow of current in the resistor 38 and eliminating the potential drop in this resistor. The elimination of the potential bias on the control grid 2|b o! the tube 2| and starts the flow of current in the discharge circuit. It also operates the control circuit to extinguish the recording lamp l8. Following these two effects of the elimination of the voltage drop in the resistor '38, which take place simultaneously, the condenser voltage decreases, since the current in the discharging circuit is greater than the flow of current in the discharge circuit. It

also lights the, recording light l8. This completes the cycle and the charging of the condenser by the current in the photo-cell circuit begins again.

A milliammeter 48 may be connected in the recording lamp circuit to indicate the proportion of black in the contrast image and may be adjusted by a variable shunt 48 to read 100 when the recording light is operated without interruption, a condition which may be attained by closing a switch 5| to maintain a constant potential on the grid of tube 28. An ampere hour meter 68, connected in the recording lamp circuit, may be used for indicating the total black area in the contrast image.

In the cyclic operation which has been described, the rate at which the condenser is charged and discharged and consequently the frequency of the cyclic operation depends upon the capacity and other constants of the cyclic circuit and also upon the strength of the photocell current fed to the circuit. At any fixed value of the electrical constants of the cyclic circuit, which determine the so-called time constant of the circuit, the rate at which the condenser is charged is proportional to the amount of light reaching the photo-cell, as this determines the strength of the current in the photocell circuit; and the rate at which the condenser .is discharged in an inverse function of. the

amount of light reaching the photo-cell, since the photo-cell current opposes the constant current in the discharging circuit. The time intervals of the charging and discharging of the condenser depend upon the charging and discharging rates and determine the lengths of the black and white portions of each element of the contrast image. This results in making the ratio of black area to total area of each element equal 4 .whole cycle is long, and consequently the elemental area is long.

When a light tone area of the original lies between the scanning lamp and the photo-cell, the photo-cell current is large, charging the condenser rapidly and opposing the discharging current so that the discharge is slow. This also results in a long cycle producing along elemental area and a short black area.

When the middle tone of the original is between the scanning lamp and the photo-cell, the current in the photo-cell circuit is half the current in the discharge circuit, so that the time of charging the condenser andthe time of-discharging the condenser are equal and comparatively short, giving the minimum length of cycle and producing a short elemental area which is half black and half white. Under these circumstances, the frequency 01' the cyclic operation of the cycle circuit is at a maximum.

Thus, the scanning apparatus which has been described produces a contrast image in which the elements representing different tones differ in size. I make no claim to the apparatus and circuits thus far described, as they constitute the subject-matter of Hardy Patent No. 2,136,340,

issued November 8, 1938. My invention comprises means which may be combined with this circuit for causing periodic changes in the sizes of .the elements without varying the relation between the sizes of the elements representing dif- 55 ferent tones and without varying the proportion of black to white in each element. It accomplishes this result by causing a proportional variation in the times required for charging and discharging the condenser for each value of the photo-cell current.-

My invention may most simply be incorporated in a scanning device of the type which has been described-that is to say, in one which has an electric circuit having a cyclic operationby introducing means operated periodically, most desirably at the end of each scanning line, to modify the electric circuit by altering one of its constants. Such alteration makes a change in the maximum frequency of fgo the cyclic operation of the circuit which, as

stated above, occurs at a middle tone of the original. Equal percentage changes are also caused in the lower frequencies of the cyclic operation of the circuit which, as noted above, occur in light and dark tone areas of the original. Such alteration of the time constant of the circuit may, for example, be effected by changing the amount of the capacity contained in the circuit. The specific embodiment of my invention,

. shown in Figs. 4 and 5, includes an auxiliary condenser 351: and a switch operated by the mechanism for moving the drums l0 and ii to connect this condenser in parallel with the condenser 35 of the scanning circuit during alternate revolutions of the drums, that is, during alternating scanning lines. The auxiliary condenser 35a: is connected in parallel with a condenser 35 by wires 10, II which are connected to brushes l3, 14 mounted so on a rigid arm- 15 secured to the frame 8. These brushes are adapted to contact a semi-circular conductor 16 inset in a fibre gear 11 which is mounted on a shaft 18 carried by the arm II. The gear 11 meshes with a gear 19 secured to shaft 5 and may be twice the size of the latter gear, so that the, brushes complete the circuit through condenser 35$, and tlus connect it in parallel with thecondenser 25, during one out of each two revolutions of the drums I0 and II so that the capacity of the circuit is changed at the end of each scanning line. This results in varying the length of the elements representing .each tone in alternate lines of elements, without varying the proportion of black to white in each element, as shown in Fig. 1.

Another specific embodiment of ray-invention is shown in Figs. 6, 7 and .8. It is incorporated in a scanning device which is like that which has been described, except that'the original scanned by the light it and the contrast image produced 5 by the recording light I. are supported on a reciprocating table 00 instead of. upon rotating drums. As is usual in such arrangements, means (not shown) are provided for giving the table II a slight lateral movement at the end 10 of each of its strokes in each direction, so that each stroke of the table in each direction represents one scanning line. The reciprocatory movement of the table is utilized to close one or the other of two switches ii at the end of each 15 stroke. The switches are connected to a solenoid 92 operating a pawl 83 which causes a step-bystep movement of a ratchet 04 carrying an electric terminal ll. At each scanning line, this terminal comes into contact with two of a number 50 of fixed terminals 90 on a disc 81 of insulating material adjacent to the ratchet. In the form shown, there are twelve pairs 86a, 88b, 860 of fixed terminals 80, so that the terminal II on the ratchet contacts with the twelve pairs of fixed 55 terminals successively during twelve successive scanning lines.

The contact between the terminal on the ratchet and the fixed terminals is utilized'to make the effective capacity of the condenser 25 of the scanning apparatus different in adiacent scanning lines by connecting one or more auxiliary condensers in parallel with it. In the form shown diagrammatically in Fig. 7, there are two auxiliary condensers 3|: and'fly. A circuit provided by wires serves to connect either or both of the auxiliary condensers in parallel with the main condenser II. when the ratchet terminal N is in contact with the fixed terminals "a, neither auxiliary condenser is connected. 49 When it is in contact with the fixed terminals "b, the auxiliary condenser Ila: is connected in parallel with the main condenser, and when it is in contact with the terminals "c, both auxiliary condensers are connected in parallel with a the main condenser. This results in varying the length of the elements representing each tone in the manner shown in Fig.2.

My invention may also be applied to the type of scanning apparatus shown in Ranger Patent 50 No. 1,848,839 or to the type of scanning apparatus shown in Ranger Patent No. 1,790,722, by utilizing apparatus such as that shown in Fig. 5 to connect auxiliary condensers in parallel with the condensers used in the Ranger circuits dur- 5; ing alternate lines or turns of the scanning. The Ranger condensers which determine the length of the elements of the contrast image and whose capacity is regularly varied in applying 'my invention to the Ranger circuits, are the con- Q denser ii of Figs. 1, 2, 3 of Patent No. 1,848,839, the condensers l6 and ll of Fig. 1 of Patent No. 1,790,722, and the condensers 42 and 43 of Fig. 2 of Patent No. 1,790,722.

It will be appreciated that it is not necessary 06 to change the length of the elements at the end of each single scanning line, although the best results are obtained by doing so. The change may be made as often as is desired or necessary in order to avoid pattern and line effects in the 10 contrast image.

The operation of the oscillator and detector enclosed in dotted line in Fig. 4-is as-i'ollows:-

When sufiicient current flows through resistor 31, the grid of tube 22 is held at a negative poten- 7g tial sufficient to prevent a current in the plate circuit of this tube. When the current through resistor 31 decreases, there is a corresponding increase in the potential of the gridof tube 22. 5. When this increase in potential reaches a certain value, plate current will start to flow in this tube.

This will occur when the voltage across con-,

20 drops to zero. This causes a decrease in the potential of the grid of tube 23, which produces a corresponding reduction in the current through the primary of transformer 4|. This induces in the secondary of the transformer a voltage of the 25 opposite sign and tends to make the grid of tube 23 even more negative. This process continues until the grid of tube 23 becomes so negative that the plate current ceases. Current then 'flows through theresistor M in such 'a direction 30 as to again cause the potential of the grid of tube 22 to'increase. These oscillations will now continue until the grid of tube 22 is biased to a certain negative voltage, dependent partlyon the amount of feed-back from the secondary'of 35 the transformer 4| and partly on the value of resistor 44, when the oscillations will cease. This negative value is attained when the plate current in tube 22 increase. thereby increasing the voltage-drop across resistor 31. This occurs when the voltage across condenser 35 has attained the high trigger value." Hence, the low trigger value is determined by the bias necessary to start oscillation in the oscillatorand detector circuit while it is in a static condition, whereas the. high 45 trigger value" is determined by the bias necessary to stop the oscillation when the oscillator and detector are in a dynamic condition.

Tube 24 is operated as a detector, its .grid being biased normally slightly below the cut-off -60 p tential. During one-halfof the oscillationperiod of tube 23, the voltage induced in the secondary of transformer 4i causes the grid of tube 24-to become positive allowing current to flow in the plate circuit through the resistor 32. Since the oscillations of tube 22 are ata radio frequency, the oscillations of this tube result in a pulsating unidirectional current through resister 38 which to allintent and purpose maybe regarded and treated as a direct current. It

60 is obvious to one skilled in the art that this oscillator and detector might be replaced by a direct current amplifier containing an odd number of stages;

whatI claimis:

' 1. The combination with a photo-electric facsimile device including a mechanism for moving an original and a copy in a series of corresponding scanning lines and scanning and recording devices connected by an electric. circuit having a cyclic operation, of means operated by said moving mechanism at spaced scanning lines to modify said electric circuit to, alter its time constant and operated by said moving ii mechanism at intermediate scanning lines to restore said electric circuit to its original condition. 2. The combination with a photo-electric facsimile device including a mechanism for moving an original and a copy in a series of corresponding scanning lines and scanning and recording devices connected by' an electric circuit containing a condenser which is alternately charged v and discharged by currents controlled by a photo-cell scanning an original. of means periodically operated by said moving mechanism to cause equal percentage changes in the charging and discharging periods of the condenser.

) 3. The combination with a photo-electric facsimile device including amechanism for moving an original and a copy in a series of corresponding scanning lines and scanning and recording devices connected by'an electric circuit containing capacity connected to a photo-cell scanning an original, of means operated by said moving mechanism at each of a number of spaced lines to increase the capacity of the circuit by a predetermined small increment and "operated by said moving mechanism at intermediate scanning lines to decrease the capacity of the circuit by a decrement equal to said increment.

- 4. The combination with a photo-electric facsimile device including a mechanism for moving an original and a copy in a series of corresponding. scanning lines and scanning and recording devices connected by anelectric circuit co'ntaining a condenser which is alternately charged" and discharged, of an auxiliary condenser of less capacity than's'aid condenser, a circuit connecting the auxiliary condenser in parallel with said condenser, a switch in said circuit, and means operated by said moving mechanism for periodically closing and opening said switch. 1 5. The combination with a photo-electric facsimile device including scanning and recording devices connected by anelectric circuit containing a condenser, of a plurality of auxiliary condensers, and means for periodically. connecting various numbers of said condensers in parallel with the condenser of the scanning device.

6. The combination with a photo-electric facsimile device including a mechanism for moving an original and a covpyin a series of corresponding scanning lines and scanning and recording devices of the type adapted to scan a continuous-tone original and make a contrast image in which the tones of the original are represented by the relative sizes of small black and white areas, of means operated, by said mov- .9 ingmechanismatspacedsc'annin'glinesto change the sizes of the black areas and simultaneously make an equal percentage change in thesize'softhewhiteareasandoperatedby' said moving mechanism at intermediate scan- .5 ninglinestorestoretheormimlsizesofthe black and white-areas.

' MORRIS scam. 

